


regrets collect like old friends

by WelcomeToTheBadlands



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, But not actually and they're both consenting adults, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Magic, References to Depression, Russian Rey, Shyness, Slow Burn, Social Anxiety, Soft Ben Solo, Teacher-Student Relationship, Witches, shy rey
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:08:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24156409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WelcomeToTheBadlands/pseuds/WelcomeToTheBadlands
Summary: (here to relive your darkest moments)Rey was an astoundingly bright witch and beautiful beyond compare. She was revered in her community and showed promise for a good career, and then something happened, and for the most part, Rey disappeared off the map. She knew what happened, but no one else did. And she planned on keeping it that way. So, naturally, Rey shut down the blinds on her windows and brought up her walls and just folded in on herself in a way that she never thought possible.Ben Solo never thought there was anything special about himself until he met Rey Niima, and is thrown into a world of magic and splendor that he never thought he'd be able to experience. What will happen when Ben and Rey get closer as Rey teaches him how to navigate his new power?
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 12
Kudos: 21





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> idk what to put here but i wrote this when i was sad, anyway comments are appreciated. I save them in a little folder when I need to cheer myself up.

Rey Niima liked to pretend that she had never been a social person in her life, but that was, in fact, quite the opposite. Rey was an astoundingly bright witch and beautiful beyond compare. She was revered in her community and showed promise for a good career, and then something happened, and for the most part, Rey disappeared off the map. She knew what happened, but no one else did. And she planned on keeping it that way. So, naturally, Rey shut down the blinds on her windows and brought up her walls and just folded in on herself in a way that she never thought possible. 

Rey’s house was a large one, something gothic that most people would think is haunted, with gargoyles out front and a rusted front gate that was imbued with many charms. To the outsider, it looked like nothing, a completely abandoned house that no one wanted to even go near. But when you opened the gates the lawn was green and she had a prospering garden of herbs and vegetables and a lemon tree that she took great pride in. 

The house still carried that same feeling of isolation though, although it was great and a lot cheery than it looked to most mortals, it was still sad. 

Really sad. 

So sometimes, Rey couldn’t pretend that she liked staying there, and she would go out. Usually, it was for a walk at a time of day where people were walking and she could deal with the fact that people were not out. Other times, she actually went places with other people, but it was never for long. 

She didn’t like people’s eyes on her, she didn’t want to be the center of attention. Rey didn’t even like going into shops anymore to buy things, but sometimes it was necessary. It’s not like the wizarding world had some version of amazon that she could use to get things delivered to her door, she was forced to go out every once and a while to buy the things that she needed. 

Today, it wasn’t much. Just regular food-related items that she often forgot to get, causing her to often go without food when she was alone at her house. She knew it was bad to get into that habit, she really did, but a lot of the times she genuinely just forgot to eat. Rey went to a local farmers market that usually wasn’t very busy. It was out of the way, you had to drive down a little dirt path and past a few croppings of trees to be able to see it. 

The owner, Jyn Erso, was a nice old woman who always gave Rey the space that she needed to get in and get out. Sometimes she would throw a slice of her homemade pie that she gave to her favorite customers into her basket and tell her, “You have a good day, darling.” 

“Oh, you don’t have to do that.” Rey would insist because she really didn’t, but Jyn would always insist that she liked the way Rey’s eyes lit up when she had something sweet. So, of course she had to. 

Today was different. There was usually no one there when Rey went shopping around the farmer’s market, Rey forgot that mortals would come here too. But today Jyn was outside talking with a tall young man. They were smiling and just conversing with each other, but Jyn seemed to be distracted when she saw Rey approached. “Ah, Rey. Nice to see you today.” 

“Nice to see you too, Jyn.” She tried to get in the store before the inevitable happened, she really didn’t want to talk to anyone new today, but Jyn said, “Rey have you met Ben?” 

**

_Dark magic does something to you._

_Something that Rey doesn’t like explaining. She knows it’s taste all too well though. There are many stories of wizards and witches who think that they can control something that they very well can’t. They want to feel powerful, and they end up being consumed by a darkness and a hatred because of that._

_But Rey didn’t want power._

_She had enough of that._

_She just wanted to feel safe. She was paying the price for that now._

**

When Ben was picking up groceries, he hadn’t expected that he was going to meet someone new, but Jyn had a habit of trying to introduce all of her acquaintances to each other because she wanted them to be friends too. He didn’t mind meeting Rey though. As soon as he saw her, he thought to himself that she was quite possibly the prettiest girl that he had ever seen. She was wearing tight black pants and a black turtleneck and was further covered up by a cardigan. Her hair was up in a ponytail her eyes were wide and doe-like. 

The thing that really told Ben that he was done for, though, was the Russian accent. He wasn’t sure what he expected, but when he heard her voice he almost stopped breathing, because he wasn’t sure how someone could be that attractive and have an even hotter voice to match. 

“So uh, I have to shop.” She smiled sheepishly and turned, hurrying back into the store. Once she was out of earshot, Jyn sighed. 

“Sorry about that,” She said, “I thought perhaps she would come out and talk more,” 

“She might just not be in the mood,” Ben tells her. 

Jyn shakes her head, “No. I don’t think it’s that. She always just looks sad, I was hoping maybe you two would hit off because you’re about her age.” Ben glances back at the door, for some reason his curiosity was piqued. But he shook it off because he knew how annoying it was to have people randomly poke into your business for no reason. 

“Well, maybe if I see her again we can talk. For now, I just need to get my groceries.” 

**

_There are certain wounds that cut deep, and they aren’t always just the physical ones. Although that can be part of it. Rey remembered the day that she messed up, the day where that ‘incident’ happened that made her shut down. She saw things that a young girl shouldn’t have seen, and there was blood. So much blood, a lot of it was her own, wounds raked her back, her arms, her legs._

_There was just so much blood._

_Rey passed out at the sight of it._

_She should have died that night. She didn’t, though._

**

By the time that Rey was almost done shopping, she was exhausted. Her entire body hurt and she was developing a migraine, she wanted nothing more than to return to the safety of her bed. This is when her day starts to go downhill, right at this moment. She can tell that she needs a break because today really isn’t her day. But she keeps pushing on because she just wants some fucking groceries before she goes home, and then some of the apples that she has in her basket clatter out. 

She curses to herself in Russian. 

And then he’s right there, she forgot what his name was. Ben? Yes. Ben. Ben’s right there picking up her apples and helping her put them back in her basket and their hands briefly brush each other and Rey’s mouth goes dry because she just realized just how beautiful this man is. She swallows down her anxiety and says, “Thank you,” feeling utterly mortified as she checks out and then rushes out the door. 

It doesn’t take Rey a long time to get home. She uses a teleportation spell, and then she’s there. It takes most of the energy she has left to unpack her groceries, and then go back upstairs to the bedroom. That’s where she changes and then lays down, her muscles relaxing into the mattress. She stays there for a minute before tears start to sting her eyes and she just cries, until she falls asleep. 

Rey’s not sure what day it is when she wakes. She’s been known to sleep two weeks, but this time it’s only two days. She has to check her calendar to make sure that it’s right, and then she checks the phone which she barely ever looks anymore. 

A gnawing ache tugs at her stomach and she goes downstairs, grabbing one orange from fridge before peeling at it absent mindedly before nearly devouring it whole. Sunlight peaks out from the blackout curtains on each of her windows, providing just a little bit of light in the kitchen. Otherwise, most of the house is dark. She’s still tired from two days ago, and she wonders when it will end, when will the pain that’s clawing on her finally subside and let her live her life.

She’s not sure.

This habit of hers, to sleep, eat just a little something, and then go back to bed repeats itself for a few more days before she looks out, and sees him.

The man from the Farmer’s Market. _Ben._ Rey stays in her place, staring through the window for a minute. She’s a little creeped out that he’s just, _here,_ but she knows that she can thoroughly defend herself. Rey pulls on a long shawl over her clothes and then goes outside, and meets Ben at the warded gate. She’s on the other side, her wand burning a hole in her pocket when she says, “Ben?”

“Rey? This is your place—”

“What are you doing here?” She asked him. He looked kind of dazed, a little like he’d been crying, more like he was confused. “What are you doing here, Ben? How did you find my house?”

“I uh—I talked to Jyn and then Jyn told me to talk to some woman named Maz and Maz told me here and I’m sorry this is probably really creepy but I didn’t know what else to do and long story short—I uh—I need your help.”

“I’m sorry but you aren’t making any sense,” Rey said, Ben was looking around erratically, and Rey knew that if he came past that fence, he would just get more stressed out. “What do you need help with?”

“Can I just come inside so I can explain?”

“I came all the way out here, so I think that it’s perfectly fine if you explain here.” She doesn’t really want someone else coming into her house. Ben grimaces and shoves his hands in his pockets. “Maz told me that you’re a witch.” It’s at this point where Rey’s stomach drops.

“ _Of course, the old bat did that,”_ She says to herself in Russian, and then she turned to Ben, “What? Why would that ever come up in conversation?”

“Um, after our hands touched, at the Market. Something happened—um—and I thought I was going crazy but all of the things in my room started floating after I got in an argument with my Mom, like even my bed. And that’s not possible—but apparently it is possible because magic is actually a thing and I have it—and so do you—I—I need help.” He’s shaking now and Rey looks him up and down.

“And why are you coming to me?” She asked. “I don’t do that sort of thing,” He gives her this look of dismay, and there’s a bit of desperation in there. Rey doesn’t like the way that it makes her feel.

“Maz said that you’re one of the best in the business,”

“Because I am,” Rey said, “doesn’t mean that I’m looking for students.”

“Please, Rey. I’ll do anything,”

“What’s your job?”

“I’m an assistant librarian,”

“You can’t afford me,” She said.

“Please, you’re not even giving me a chance.” Rey sighed, because she knew that he was right. She bit the inside of her cheek before putting her hand on the gate. “I’m a fast learner.” He told her.

“Come here, next week. On Friday, this time. I’ll give you a one-week trial.” Ben looks stunned that she agreed to teach him.

“Oh, okay—thank you.”

“Now go, before I decide against it.” He nods, says thank you again, and then leaves. Rey watched him go, wondering what she had just gotten herself into.


	2. Chapter 2

Ben Solo had always been a very punctual person. Nothing, not even learning that he had magic and being emotionally distraught, was going to keep him from continuing to be that way. He showed up right on time to Rey’s house and stood there for a minute before she opened the gate, staring at him with this look in her eyes that he wasn’t sure how to read. “Hi!” He said.

“Hi,” She grumbled back, muttering something in Russian as she muttered for him to come up to her house. It looked—different than it did when Ben was outside of the gate. When he was outside of the gate, it looked abandoned. But now it looked like an opulent yet dark and kind of grim mansion. Ben wasn’t sure why, but he hadn’t expected Rey to be this rich.

It was intimidating, but kind of hot at the same time. She had a vast garden around her mansion that made everything look a lot cheerier, but when they got to the tall wrap around porch, Ben felt a vague sense of unease as Rey opened the door.

It was the kind of feeling you got when you could tell that something _awful_ had happened in the place where you were standing. Ben felt his stomach flip a little as he thought of the possibilities of things that could have happened as Rey opened the door. “So,” Rey began, “you have a one-week trial period and that begins today.”

“Okay,”

The inside of Rey’s house was dark, there were black out curtains nailed to all of the windows except for one where some potted plants had been placed ever so carefully. She brought Ben into her kitchen where various books and other things were strewn about. “So, before we really begin, I want to go over a few things.” She motioned for him to sit down and he did. She sat down opposite him and took out a leather-bound journal and pen of hers. “Do you have any allergies?”

“No,” He said, “how is that—”

“I have herbs out and would also be teaching you how to mix potions, I need to know if there’s anything that you’re allergic to so you don’t die of anaphylactic shock in my house. That would be rather—well it would be a stupid way to die.” He supposed that she was right in that respect. “What is your learning style?”

“Uh, I’ve never really thought about it.”

“Are you more of a hands-on type person or auditory?”

“Hands-on,”

“Okay,” Rey wrote in her journal a bit and then said, “Availability?”

“I have work every day until five, except Fridays, I work until two. Sundays and Saturdays are my day off.” He wasn’t sure why this was so close to an interview but Rey wrote some more things down and then closed her journal.

“I’m just going to be honest with you, Benjamin.” She said. That Russian accent made her more intimidating than she already was. “I’m not a nice person.” She sat back in her seat. “I will tell you when you are being stupid and I will not coddle you, I’m also very impatient so if I don’t see results by the end of your trial period you are to never contact me again.”

“Okay,” Ben said, “I can handle that.”

“Good,” Rey said, “now. The first things I want to go over today are the basics, incredibly boring.” She plopped a book down in his lap. “This is the first book of spells I ever had when my mother was still alive, kitchen spells to help with cleaning and doing chores. The easiest things to master. The first three you can do without a wand, which is what we’re going to focus on—hopefully by the end of today. You will be allowed to take this home and read it by yourself, but I would like you to try and refrain from using magic in the mortal world as some of their brains can’t handle seeing that type of thing.”

“Right, right.”

Rey wasn’t kidding when she said that she wasn’t going to hold back from him. The first thing that they worked on was just focusing, being able to lift things and stay calm. It was surprisingly harder to do than Ben expected, and the two of them had to take a couple of breaks before finally Ben was able to do _something._ When he does, Rey doesn’t look displeased, but she doesn’t tell him that he did a good job either. She simply just evaluates his form and then says, “Interesting.” The bowl that he lifted clattered back onto the table, making a loud sound but not breaking. “We need to work on control,” Rey told him, “but you’re not entirely bad at this.”

“Uh, thanks?”

“It takes some people years to even lift something and you mastered it in less than a day, so—good for you I guess.” She got up. “Do you want any water?”

“Sure,”

“Okay,” She busied herself getting him a glass of water and then preparing some coffee for herself. “Now, we’re going to repeat.”

It was mentally exhausting.

They did it ten, twenty, thirty times. And then when Rey is satisfied, she said, “Well—oh look at that, it’s eight at night. Since you performed well, I’m going to let you off. We’ll do actual spell work next week, same time you came here last time.”

“Oh—okay.” Ben said. “I’ll be ready.” He took the spell book that Rey gave to him and bid her goodbye and then left. Not really sure what to think of everything that just happened.

__

Rey didn’t know hot to teach her craft. She had never been able to study to become a teacher of the arts, or anything else really. So, she wasn’t looking forward to teaching Ben. Not in the slightest. She was; however, pleasantly surprised, when their first lesson rolled around.

Ben was a fast learner. Almost as fast as her. She wasn’t going to stroke his ego yet, not during the trail period. She endured two more lessons with him, and each time he managed to excel in the basics perfectly. After each lesson, Rey would be exhausted and wait for him to leave before finding solace in her bed.

Rey’s sleep schedule had never been great, but now it wasn’t really a schedule at all. She just felt her muscles sigh in relief when she laid down. More than a few times, Rey would sleep through a day. Sometimes two. She tried her best not to do that now, because she had a lesson to give a day and a half later, but things happened that just made her exhausted.

It made it hard for her to get out of bed.

She had to try though.

When the day that Ben’s lesson came, she got out of bed, but she struggled to do so, readied a pot of coffee, and waited. Part of her said that she should just deny him even though he’s been doing perfectly fine. There was another part of herself that overruled that.

She sighed, and then opened the door. She had given him a key to come through the gate, but not one that worked on the house. “Hi,” She said.

“Hey,” He was always smiling when he came in the house, and Rey never knew why. She already had a cup of black coffee in her hands and Ben raised his eyebrow when he saw it.

“What?”

“Nothing, it’s just—that smells strong. And it’s three thirty in the afternoon,”

“I know what time it is.”

“Okay then,” He said as he walked in, Rey clutched her shawl closer to her as she moved to the kitchen and set her coffee down.

“I want to see what you’ve learned,” She told him.

“Okay,” He said, “by the way when will I get my wand?”

“If I decide that you’re worthy to continue to train I will take you to a wandmaker myself,”

“Okay,” He said, “and when is that?”

“When will I decide that you’re worthy of continuing training?” He nodded and Rey rolled her eyes. She wasn’t used to all of these questions and did not have the patience for it.

“Do you always ask so many questions?”

“No,”

“Then why are you now?”

“Because up until a few weeks ago I didn’t think magic existed and I certainly didn’t think that I had it, so now I have a lot of questions as I’m trying to relearn what reality is—”

“Okay, okay. I get it.” Ben pursed his lips. “Now show me what you’ve learned, if you do it right then I will tell you what my answer is.”

“Alright,” Ben said, “that’s a deal.” He performed his spells perfectly.


	3. Chapter 3

Rey woke up and immediately thought to herself that she did not want to do anything. Her body simply told her that functioning was out of the question for the day. She didn’t even remember that functioning was out of the question for the day. She didn’t even remember that Ben was coming over today until he was knocking at her door.

She groaned, knowing that she needed to get up. Her body wasn’t letting her do that though. She summoned a robe to her and threw it over her before forcing herself up and down the stairs. If this were any other person, she would’ve waited for him to leave. She felt bad about thinking about staying in bed. Rey opened the door and was greeted over by Ben’s overtly cheery demeanor and she felt like she couldn’t do this today. “Today’s going to be different.” Rey sighed.

“I will let you into the library and you can pick whichever book you want to study from.”

“Okay,” Ben said, “are you okay?”

“I’ve been better. Come, come.” She motioned for him to follow here. Sometimes Rey wished that she didn’t have a house so big, especially now. She hated having to walk down such vast hallways.

When they finally got to the library, Rey was relieved. She took a key out of her pocket and opened the door. “There,” She said, “you have free reign of the library. Just not the books that are locked up.” Ben took a step into the library, and Rey watched his eyes fill with wonder.

“Wow,” He said, “your library is huge.”

“I have another, smaller one upstairs. But this is a comprehensive list of books, so feel free to read. Just be careful, some of them are expensive.” She probably should’ve explained to Ben that there was more that he had to watch out for with books, but she was already extremely tired and wanted to sleep.

“Thank you,” He said, “really.”

“It’s nothing.” She turned around, before he could keep her there any longer, and then returned to her room.

**

When Ben saw Rey, he was concerned. She always had this grumpy disposition about her, but this was different. She looked like she was genuinely in pain when she came to the door, and like she hadn’t slept in ages. It didn’t come as a surprise when she told him that she wouldn’t actually be teaching him that day. But that was fine, because Rey had a vast collection of books that Ben utterly envied and wished that he could have as well.

At first he started going through spell books, but it occurred to him that a lot of the stuff that he just so happened to pick up were way out of his minimal range of knowledge, and he moved to another section of books. _The Complete History of Wizards_ was a large, leather bound book with a title that was embossed in golden paint.

Ben was utterly entranced by it.

Ben wanted to know everything, especially since he had found out his powers late enough in life that he had no experience with the magical world in the slightest. He wondered what it was like, what he had to do to get to it. He wondered how people with powers like this could really hide in plain sight. He had so many questions, and you couldn’t exactly Google this type of thing.

He wasn’t sure how long he had been in Rey’s house by the time that she had opened the door to the library and leaned against the door frame, she still looked tired, but a little more well rested than she had before, “It’s late.” She said.

“It is?” He raised an eyebrow, the fatigue of reading for way too long finally hitting him. He looked at his phone. It was ten o’ clock at night. “Oh, shit. It is.” He said.

“Got caught up in reading,”

“Uh, yeah.” He said. “There’s some really fascinating stuff in this.” Rey walked closer to get a look at the book that he was reading.

“Ah, a history buff?” Rey chuckled and said, “Well you can take the book, or whatever other book catches your eye home with you. Just tell what you took and bring it back for your next lesson.” Ben felt himself light up when she said that.

“Really?”

“Yes,” She was much less enthusiastic, probably thinking he was weird for getting so excited about books, “just be careful with them please, they’re expensive, and hostile.”

“Hostile?”

“Yes, some books have been hexed by the author so anyone who spills something on them or mistreats them will have bad luck for a week.”

“Really?”

Rey nodded, “Believe me.”

Ben didn’t ask twice about it, he just took the one that he had been reading and told Rey that he was really thankful to her for letting him do that. Then he left.

**

Rey often had bad days.

She had learned to live with it from a very young age. She could get up and make sure that she did at least something, before she would collapse in her bed and fall asleep. But there were certain times when she couldn’t do that. When the thought of doing things was just way too much for her and she felt utterly useless and she cried.

She hated being vulnerable and showing emotion though so she rarely ever full-on cried anymore. A lot of the time she would just randomly find herself tearing up when she was going about her daily routine or laying in bed, feeling like she couldn’t get up, even if her life depended on it.

It seemed to be one of those.

She didn’t know what day it was.

She just felt weak and wondered why she was here. Why did she have to do this again? She got up and went to her garden, tending it and trying to keep some semblance of normalcy. That’s when she heard the faint sound of someone knocking at the front door. She was quick in getting to it, to see Ben there. “It’s not time for your lesson is it?” She asked. She still had her garden clothes on, but she was grateful that it covered her up.

“Oh, no.” Ben was holding something in his hands. A pan of something? “I uh, I actually made you some pasta—and I couldn’t find a bowl—but I just wanted to bring it over.” Rey stared at him for a second.

“What?”

“I made you some food,”

“Why?” She asked.

“Because you didn’t seem like you were doing too great the other day and I felt bad that I couldn’t help, so I made you some food. Because—you know—it’s something.” Rey took the pan from Ben and looked down at what looked almost too picturesque to be real. It had taken him a long time, but he had made the red sauce himself.

“It smells good,” She said, she was always bad at telling people thank you. But she did appreciate the gesture. “I uh—you didn’t have to do that.”

“I know,” Ben said, “I wanted to. I mean, you’re being so nice to me, teaching me magic and everything. It’s the least I could do right?” He chuckled nervously and then he could’ve sworn he saw her eyes get misty.

“That’s very kind,” She said, swallowing a lump in her throat before speaking more. “Are you busy? Do you want to come in?”

“Uh, no I’m not busy actually. Are you sure?”

“Yes,” She said. She knew she was probably going to regret this. “I am asking you so, yes I’m sure.” She hadn’t really hung out with anyone in a while, and if she was being truthful, her loneliness outweighed the discomfort she was feeling right now.

“Come in,” Rey said. “I’ll make some tea.”

She opened the door and Ben came in. He had this smile that just kind of made her falter for a second. Her brain stopped working and then remembered what it was doing. She told herself that she was being weird, and set about making tea. She hoped that she wouldn’t mess this up.


	4. Chapter 4

Rey used to love talking to people. Everyone knew her as one of the kindest witches in the magical world when she was a child, but of course, she wasn’t a child anymore, and that spark that she once had that would fuel conversation for hours upon hours was not there anymore. Now as she made tea for Ben, she wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do. “So,” Ben cleared his throat, “how has your day been?”

Rey shrugged, “Honestly? Boring, haven’t really gotten to do much. You?” She kept her eyes on the tea because she didn’t want to admit that she was a lot more nervous than she should be.

“Oh, it’s been okay. I’ve just been working and haven’t gotten to do much.” When the tea was finally done, Rey poured a cup.

“How do you like your tea?”

“Just one sugar, and a little bit of honey if you have any.”

“Unfortunately, I do not.”

“That’s okay,” Ben shrugged. He looked grateful when Rey gave him the tea, sitting opposite of him. Her body was telling her that she really shouldn’t be up right now, but she ignored the feeling and let her bones settle as she tried to think of something to say.

“I’m not very good at this whole ‘ _hanging out’_ thing.” She admitted.

Ben raised an eyebrow, “I think that you’re doing pretty good right now if you ask me.” There was a slight smile crossing his lips and Rey found her heart beating a little faster for a second, before she found something else to focus on.

“Is there something in particular that you would like to do?”

“Well, we can just talk and get to know each other better, or we could take a walk or whatever you want to do. I’m not a very picky person,” Rey was wishing that she had told him that she couldn’t do this today. She hated talking about herself. There were too many painful things that would come up and she would have to dance around everything like there was no tomorrow.

“Uh,” Rey paused, “I have some board games if you want to do that?”

“Sounds like fun,” Ben smiled at her, “again. I’m not picky.”

“Right,” Rey said, getting up, “I’ll go get one.”

**

Ben watched Rey leave, genuinely wondering if she was okay or not. He watched the way she moved and could just tell that she was in pain, it made him feel bad for her, seeing the way she looked. He wished that there was some way that he could help her, but he didn’t know how to bring something like that up to her.

Even though Rey was his mentor, he barely knew anything about her, and it was clear that she wasn’t going to open up to him any time soon. Rey came back with a medieval looking game in an intricately carved wooden box, “It’s like Battleship but with pirate ships,” She told him. For a second, Ben could have sworn that she looked a little bit excited. That paired with her explaining things in that Russian accent of hers just had Ben’s heart melting even more. “So, you get the gist?”

“Yes, I’ve played Battleship before.”

“Why didn’t you tell me that?” She tsked at him and rolled her eyes and Ben just shrugged, and they began to play. It became very clear that Rey was extremely competitive and really good at strategy. Rey had won four of the games in brutal succession before they finally stopped, Ben, laughing and graciously accepting his defeat.

He could have sworn that Rey was smiling. “Well,” She said, “you’re really bad at that game.”

He threw his arms up in mock defeat and said, “I tried.”

Rey giggled a little bit and then the two just sat there in silence. “I think I’ll try some of the pasta that you made for me,” She said before getting up and heading a little further into the kitchen. When she came back, she was already eating from the bowl that she had prepared for herself and was almost half done. She sat quietly and continued to eat for a moment before saying, “Ben? Are you a chef, perhaps?”

“No,” Ben answered, “why?”

“This is really good,” She told him, “thank you.”

“It’s no problem, really.” He told her. She gave him a small smile and continued to eat before finishing and coming back, sitting down opposite of him yet again.

“When your lesson comes around, I think that I will be taking you to the magic world, finally,” Rey told him. Ben perked up at that.

“Really?”

“Really,” Rey stated, “I think that it’s time to find you a wand and get you your own set of books. It’ll be on me,”

“That’s so nice, but I think that I could pay—”

Rey raised up her hand before he could finish, “Nonsense. It’s the least that I could do. Now, I would hate to cut this short, but I am tired and need to rest, so—”

“Right, I’ll uh—I’ll go. Thank you, Rey. Really.” Rey showed him out and Ben found him excited yet again.

**

Rey was still feeling like shit by the time that Ben’s lesson rolled around, but she had told him that she was going to take him to the magical world, so she did exactly that. Rey got all of her stuff ready and made sure that she ate, because Ben was always on time, as he was once again. He was ready with a bunch of questions, asking her what everything was like and if Harry Potter was accurate in any way whatsoever. “I don’t know what that is,” Rey said, “anyways, what is the weather like outside?”

“Sunny,” Ben told her. That’s when she got a black umbrella out of her closet. “Does it rain a lot in the magical world?” He asked her.

“No, not necessarily. I just don’t like the sun,” She told him, “now, there’s a portal in my backyard, are you coming?”

Rey had to admit that Ben’s excitement was kind of adorable, especially when he saw the fairy ring-like portal surrounded by mushrooms and vibrating with energy. Rey offered Ben his hand, “It’s kind of dizzying for first-timers, so hold my hand.” She told him. He did so without asking, and Rey and Ben stepped through the portal.

**

Dizzying was an understatement; Ben nearly threw up in an alleyway when they warped into the magic world. Rey looked at him with pity as he tried to regain his balance, and she even kept him from falling a couple of times, which he was grateful for. When he could finally see without feeling like he was going to fall over, he straightened himself up so that he could get a sense of his surroundings.

Trees towered over them, looking even bigger than any tree that Ben had seen in the mortal realm, and little glowing lights that looked almost like fireflies were flying around. “What’s that?” Ben asked Rey.

“Fae,” Rey told him, “don’t piss them off. They’ll kill your firstborn and replace it with one of their own,”

“Good to know,” Ben said, and they began walking. “And how do you not piss them off?”

“Just don’t do anything that you would consider rude to do to other humans, don’t swat at them and things like that.”

“Okay,” Ben said, “why would I swat at them?”

“I don’t know,” Rey shrugged, “they mostly keep to themselves, but some hooligans like to hunt them so—don’t do that is my point.” Ben nodded again and the two of them started walking.

“Right,” Ben said, “wasn’t planning on doing that in the first place.” Rey opened her umbrella and the two of them walked out in the alleyway. The number of shops that lined the streets was fascinating to Ben, there were some barterers and people trying to advertise their products, Rey told Ben to keep close to her the entire time.

His eyes kept roaming around, looking at each vibrantly colored façade and grandstanding gargoyle outside some of the establishments and looking around in awe. There were some witches in tall, crooked hats, there were some kids playing in a field opposite the storefronts, weaving flowers into crowns.

Ben was happy until he noticed that there were some people that were giving him weird looks. He wasn’t sure if it was because he was new to the magic world, or if he had already done something wrong, but it was making him anxious.

“Hey, uh—”

“They’re not looking at you,” Rey said before he finished his sentence, “they’re staring at me.” Ben was about to say something when they reached the store that Rey wanted to take him to. _Kanata’s Wands and Cauldrons_ was inscribed beautifully in gold on a sign outside of the store. Rey closed her umbrella and motioned for Ben to come in.

Ben had so many questions that he wanted to ask her, but he knew that he shouldn’t. Not now.

As soon as the door rang and signaled them coming in, whatever business that the shop owner had been tending to stopped, and as Ben and Rey came through the door, Ben saw the face of an old woman that looked almost familiar, but he couldn’t put his finger on it. She was rather small and had a little bit of trouble looking over the desk, but that didn’t stop her from being delighted when she saw Rey stalk into the room. “Rey! My dear, it’s been such a long time.” Rey seemed alarmed when the old woman came over and hugged her without a question.

“Uh, hi Maz.” She said. “How are you doing?” Maz let go of her and took a step back.

“Oh, you know, five years!” She said with a small edge of admonishment in her voice. “You said that you were going to come visit and you never did, I’m not going to be on this Earth very much longer, you know that right? Everyone thought you were dead, b—”

“We don’t need to talk about that right now,” Rey snapped and Maz’s attention turned to Ben for the first time since the two of them had been in this store.

“And who is this strapping young man?”

“Ben,” he said, chuckling a little.

“It’s nice to meet you, Ben. Rey, you didn’t tell me that you had a boyfriend?”

“He’s not my boyfriend,”

“I’m not her boyfriend,” Ben said, “I’m her apprentice.”

“Ah, my bad,” Maz said, she looked him over more. “And let me guess, you need a wand.”

“Yes, I do.” He told her.

“Well,” She said, “Luckily for you, I just so happen to be the best wandmaker in the nation, so I’m sure that I have a wand for you.” She motioned for him to come in a back room with her, and Rey followed suit as well. There was a wall lined with boxes and boxes of wands, and Ben had no idea how he was going to choose his wand.

“You look overwhelmed,” Rey muttered, “don’t be. The wand chooses you; you’ll find the right one.” Ben wanted to say that it was like Harry Potter, but Rey wouldn’t get the reference, so he didn’t say anything.

“Come here,” Maz said, she measured his arm and asked him some questions in a rapid-fire succession that was almost overwhelming, but Ben answered everything to the best of his capabilities.

Maz presented him with a bunch of boxes of wands and told him that he should just pick up the first one that interested him. Ben looked to Rey and she nodded, a small smile on her lips, and Ben picked. The wand was ornately carved and lightweight and white, but it felt a little off-balance, and when Ben was encouraged to do a spell, one of the shelves fell. “I’m so sorry,” Ben said.

“Don’t worry about it,” Maz said, “Just keep trying.”

Ben went through three wands before he found one that just felt right in his hands, it had ornate carvings and a purple crystal in it, and when Ben cast a repair spell that he had read about but never performed before in one of Rey’s spell books, the shelf put itself back together perfectly and Ben felt a surge of power in him that he had never felt before. “Yep,” Rey said, “that’s the one.”


End file.
